Yet
Gerrard believes the return of Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge, who missed last month’s Ukraine game, can be decisive.

“The
two games are about us,” said England captain Gerrard. “Every opposition who you come up against will have their tricky players.

“Montenegro
and Poland will have their matchwinners as well, but we will have the better matchwinners, I tell you that. Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge will be available and those players can make an awful lot of difference.

“So, hopefully, everyone stays fit and we can get those two wins. The confidence and the belief is certainly there.”

Clive Rose

Confident mood: Steven Gerrard believes England are in pole position to qualify

Two
victories will secure top spot in Group H and confirm automatic qualification to the Brazil finals, but any slip-ups will leave England sweating. Despite the fact England are yet to lose a Group H game, they are also yet to beat Montenegro or Poland and drew twice with Ukraine.

“The
pressure is on, we are at Wembley and the onus is on us to win the two games,” said Gerrard. “We can’t ask for any more than to be at Wembley with 90,000 there and we’ve got more players to pick from, especially in
the final third, so everything is positive.

“It will be nerve-racking, but, hopefully, we can ease the tension by getting two comfortable wins. I’m sure it will go to the wire, but that all adds to the fun!”

England
have been criticised for being dull and negative under Roy Hodgson, but
Gerrard backs the 66-year-old’s cautious approach.

“Clean
sheets are a great base to work from,” said Gerrard. “Every manager I have worked with has always drummed into myself and the other players that you can’t be a successful team unless you get the fundamentals right.”

FA chairman Greg Dyke has already claimed England are not good enough to win the World Cup... even if Hodgson’s team qualify.

But 33-year-old Gerrard is refusing to think about that until they have qualified.

“We
will worry about the World Cup when the job of qualification is done,” said Gerrard. “We still have two hurdles to get over, so it would be very foolish of me to talk about the World Cup.

“We have Montenegro and Poland at home – they are not gimmes, we still have to put in good performances.”